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== BASIC Code in Human Memory ==

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In today's computing context, it is hard enough to remember programs being transmitted on physical media such as floppy disks and cassette tapes. The notion that programs would routinely be published in print and typed by users is even more alien, but we do have material evidence that programs were transmitted in this way, and people are still invited to key in code snippets of different sorts from books on programming.

+

It is hard enough these days to remember programs being transmitted on physical media such as floppy disks and cassette tapes. The notion that programs would routinely be published in print and typed by users is even more alien, but we do have material evidence that programs were transmitted in this way, and people are still invited to key in code snippets of different sorts from books on programming.

−

There is an even stranger way that programs, particularly short ones such as BASIC one-liners, got from computer to computer and from person to person: By being memorized. The claim here is not that the early 1980s presented a ''Fahrenheit 451'' situation in which the world's great computer programs were preserved by a dedicated few, but that it was common for people who knew a bit of programming to keep a one-liner, or even a handful of short programs, in mind so that they could be typed into a friend's computer. Very short programs that did visually interesting things were particularly worth memorizing. And since programmers typically had to memorize certain BASIC statements, such as <code>? CHR$(147)</code> (which clears the screen), it was not much of a leap to memorize two statements, such as <code>10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10</code>.

+

There is an even stranger way that programs, particularly short ones such as BASIC one-liners, got from computer to computer and from person to person: By being memorized. The claim here is not that the early 1980s presented a ''Fahrenheit 451'' situation in which the world's great computer programs were preserved by a dedicated few, but that it was common for people who knew a bit of programming to keep a one-liner, or even a handful of short programs, in mind so that they could be typed into a friend's computer. Very short programs that did visually interesting things were particularly worth memorizing. And since programmers typically had to memorize certain BASIC statements, such as <code>? CHR$(147)</code> (which clears the screen), it was not much of a leap to memorize two statements in that language, such as <code>10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10</code>.

The dream of having total recall of a massive computer program manifests itself in science fiction. In Cory Doctorow's story "0wnz0red," the main character, Murray, is initially a fat slob who, after the death of his only friend Liam, has spiraled downwards personally and in terms of code quality. After Liam returns, having actually hacked his body and mind into near-perfection, Murray is provided with similarly superhuman abilities, including the ability to exactly remember large amounts of English text: "... generating a 4,096 bit key that he could remember was going to be damned hard, but then he closed his eyes and recalled, with perfect clarity, the first five pages of documentation he'd written for the API. His fingers rattled on the keys at speed, zero typos." The keyboard isn't essential to this process: Later, while hooded and being interrogated, Murray recites the entire key.

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Shneiderman's early acknowledgement that programs can be memorized is significant; his result, furthermore, shows that the memorization of programs relates to the memorization of language in some important ways. But there are differences between this study's perspective and the consideration of how BASIC one-liners are memorized. Shneiderman focuses on comprehension and uses memorization as a measure of comprehension; although it seems evident from all of these studies that two are deeply connected, memorization is nevertheless being considered along the way to understanding something else. Shneiderman's study is about the short-term memorization of programs of about 20 lines, assigned as a task. Because short-term memory is the concern, Shneiderman cites the famous paper on the topic, Miller's 1956 "The magical number seven, plus or minus two," and discusses how his results may be consistent with the ones in that paper.

−

The point here is not to advance an alternative theory of program memorization, but to show that 10 PRINT represents a category of programs that were historically memorized but which existing theories of program memorization, created for longer program and for programs that model business processes, do not cover. The memorization of BASIC one-liners was rather long-term, was done for fun, and of course involved very short programs. This type of memorization will have certain things in common with the type done in these memorization studies, but it may also relate to the way people memorize jokes, proverbs, and other folk texts. These studies do at least show how people can remember key statements (beacons) and the high-level workings of a program without memorizing it character by character. Also, the appearance of program variants that work identically but are written differently is consistent with studies on and theories of program memorization. And, essentially, the studies demonstrate that program memorization is possible and that many people may have carried 10 PRINT into a Commodore 64's memory using their own.

+

The point here is not to advance an alternative theory of program memorization, but to show that 10 PRINT represents a category of programs that were historically memorized but which existing theories of program memorization, created for longer program and for programs that model business processes, do not cover. The memorization of BASIC one-liners was rather long-term, was done for fun, and of course involved very short programs. This type of memorization has certain things in common with the type done in these memorization studies, but it may also relate to the way people memorize jokes, proverbs, and other folk texts. These studies do at least show how people can remember key statements (beacons) and the high-level workings of a program without memorizing it character by character. Also, the appearance of program variants that work identically but are written differently is consistent with studies on and theories of program memorization. And, essentially, the studies demonstrate that program memorization is possible and that many people may have carried 10 PRINT into a Commodore 64's memory by using their own.

== Sidebar: Remembering 10 PRINT ==

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@@ Line 162: / Line 162: @@
 == BASIC Code in Human Memory ==
-In today's computing context, it is hard enough to remember programs being transmitted on physical media such as floppy disks and cassette tapes. The notion that programs would routinely be published in print and typed by users is even more alien, but we do have material evidence that programs were transmitted in this way, and people are still invited to key in code snippets of different sorts from books on programming.
+It is hard enough these days to remember programs being transmitted on physical media such as floppy disks and cassette tapes. The notion that programs would routinely be published in print and typed by users is even more alien, but we do have material evidence that programs were transmitted in this way, and people are still invited to key in code snippets of different sorts from books on programming.
-There is an even stranger way that programs, particularly short ones such as BASIC one-liners, got from computer to computer and from person to person: By being memorized. The claim here is not that the early 1980s presented a ''Fahrenheit 451'' situation in which the world's great computer programs were preserved by a dedicated few, but that it was common for people who knew a bit of programming to keep a one-liner, or even a handful of short programs, in mind so that they could be typed into a friend's computer. Very short programs that did visually interesting things were particularly worth memorizing. And since programmers typically had to memorize certain BASIC statements, such as <code>? CHR$(147)</code> (which clears the screen), it was not much of a leap to memorize two statements, such as <code>10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10</code>.
+There is an even stranger way that programs, particularly short ones such as BASIC one-liners, got from computer to computer and from person to person: By being memorized. The claim here is not that the early 1980s presented a ''Fahrenheit 451'' situation in which the world's great computer programs were preserved by a dedicated few, but that it was common for people who knew a bit of programming to keep a one-liner, or even a handful of short programs, in mind so that they could be typed into a friend's computer. Very short programs that did visually interesting things were particularly worth memorizing. And since programmers typically had to memorize certain BASIC statements, such as <code>? CHR$(147)</code> (which clears the screen), it was not much of a leap to memorize two statements in that language, such as <code>10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10</code>.
 The dream of having total recall of a massive computer program manifests itself in science fiction. In Cory Doctorow's story "0wnz0red," the main character, Murray, is initially a fat slob who, after the death of his only friend Liam, has spiraled downwards personally and in terms of code quality. After Liam returns, having actually hacked his body and mind into near-perfection, Murray is provided with similarly superhuman abilities, including the ability to exactly remember large amounts of English text: "... generating a 4,096 bit key that he could remember was going to be damned hard, but then he closed his eyes and recalled, with perfect clarity, the first five pages of documentation he'd written for the API. His fingers rattled on the keys at speed, zero typos." The keyboard isn't essential to this process: Later, while hooded and being interrogated, Murray recites the entire key.
@@ Line 180: / Line 180: @@
 Shneiderman's early acknowledgement that programs can be memorized is significant; his result, furthermore, shows that the memorization of programs relates to the memorization of language in some important ways. But there are differences between this study's perspective and the consideration of how BASIC one-liners are memorized. Shneiderman focuses on comprehension and uses memorization as a measure of comprehension; although it seems evident from all of these studies that two are deeply connected, memorization is nevertheless being considered along the way to understanding something else. Shneiderman's study is about the short-term memorization of programs of about 20 lines, assigned as a task. Because short-term memory is the concern, Shneiderman cites the famous paper on the topic, Miller's 1956 "The magical number seven, plus or minus two," and discusses how his results may be consistent with the ones in that paper.
-The point here is not to advance an alternative theory of program memorization, but to show that 10 PRINT represents a category of programs that were historically memorized but which existing theories of program memorization, created for longer program and for programs that model business processes, do not cover. The memorization of BASIC one-liners was rather long-term, was done for fun, and of course involved very short programs. This type of memorization will have certain things in common with the type done in these memorization studies, but it may also relate to the way people memorize jokes, proverbs, and other folk texts. These studies do at least show how people can remember key statements (beacons) and the high-level workings of a program without memorizing it character by character. Also, the appearance of program variants that work identically but are written differently is consistent with studies on and theories of program memorization. And, essentially, the studies demonstrate that program memorization is possible and that many people may have carried 10 PRINT into a Commodore 64's memory using their own.
+The point here is not to advance an alternative theory of program memorization, but to show that 10 PRINT represents a category of programs that were historically memorized but which existing theories of program memorization, created for longer program and for programs that model business processes, do not cover. The memorization of BASIC one-liners was rather long-term, was done for fun, and of course involved very short programs. This type of memorization has certain things in common with the type done in these memorization studies, but it may also relate to the way people memorize jokes, proverbs, and other folk texts. These studies do at least show how people can remember key statements (beacons) and the high-level workings of a program without memorizing it character by character. Also, the appearance of program variants that work identically but are written differently is consistent with studies on and theories of program memorization. And, essentially, the studies demonstrate that program memorization is possible and that many people may have carried 10 PRINT into a Commodore 64's memory by using their own.
 == Sidebar: Remembering 10 PRINT ==